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Writing summaries is more important than reading more books

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Re: Writing summaries is more important than reading more books

#161

Post by kirso »

jrm4 wrote: post #104

I can't speak for others, but for me this headline and idea is exactly and perfectly wrong, so I suppose I just want to reach those for whom this generates unnecessary "guilt" or something like that. As a voracious reader, I've personally found that I got the most out of books when I stopped trying to summarize and highlight. I very rarely do either anymore. I realize that what happens is sort of a Darwinian "surviva…

Reminded me of this essay: https://sashachapin.substack.com/p/notes-against-note-taking...

Re: Writing summaries is more important than reading more books

#162

Post by lupire »

jrm4 wrote: post #104

I can't speak for others, but for me this headline and idea is exactly and perfectly wrong, so I suppose I just want to reach those for whom this generates unnecessary "guilt" or something like that. As a voracious reader, I've personally found that I got the most out of books when I stopped trying to summarize and highlight. I very rarely do either anymore. I realize that what happens is sort of a Darwinian "surviva…

What if you actually want to learn how to use and apply something, not just recall some information about it?

Re: Writing summaries is more important than reading more books

#163

Post by orobinson »

afarviral wrote: post #152
causality0 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my opinion it's just another symptom of the trend in tech circles for ever-increasing self-documentation. Thing is, it doesn't matter how hard you try to shove your life up its own ass, you're going to be just as dead as me at the end of it. And I'll have read more cool stuff.

This made me chuckle. Too true. I would only argue that thinking/journalling deeply about fewer ideas is an equally good use of your time as tasting a greater breadth of ideas more shallowly.

Comes down to personal preference at the end of the day. Would you rather know a lot about a bit or a bit about a lot. I’m definitely in the latter category.

Re: Writing summaries is more important than reading more books

#165

Post by chubot »

tsimionescu wrote: post #120
chubot wrote: post #47

I totally agree, and surprised it's a bit controversial here. I understand that reading for pleasure can be different than reading for comprehension But I lean towards reading for comprehension. I have a wiki which includes all the books I've read. The good ones get their own wiki pages with the main things I learned, and other notes. A key point is that I don't take notes while I read. I only do it LATER -- because…

I'm guessing a large part of the controversy is related to the fact that reading has many different aspects. Possibly the article is referring to the same kind of reading you're referring to - technical books on various real-world topics. However, it's much harder to see the value in doing anything like the article is suggesting for literature. Is there really much to gain from writing a summary of Virginia Woolf's T…

Oh definitely, and I think part of the pushback is framing it as "writing summaries". That sounds like homework. :)

But I would just call it engaging with the ideas after you read. So talking with a friend about a book is just as good, and even better.

And writing a comment on a forum can be just as good, as it's an active thing too. I sometimes write comments and then link them from my wiki.

I've had a GoodReads account in the past, but somehow it seems a bit shallow and artificial ... almost a bit like homework. It's better if the topics naturally come up, but if they don't, I still find writing notes to myself to enhance the reading experience.

I mean you may spend 1 week or 8 weeks reading a book. I don't see why spending 5 to 30 minutes writing notes a few days after can be viewed as bad.

I totally agree with the author in that those 5 or 30 minutes is way better spent writing about what you read, rather than 5 or 30 minutes reading something new that you may or may not retain.

And again I'm focusing on reading non-fiction for retention, not literature. (For better or worse, I read WAY more non-fiction than literature)

Re: Writing summaries is more important than reading more books

#166

Post by enos_feedler »

jrm4 wrote: post #129
enos_feedler wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I now find myself googling for other peoples notes on a book if I want to extract more. I read through those notes and rewrite with a pen in a journal and start to pull apart the dense notes further and connect to my own experience and life

Yup, but conversely, I try to avoid reviews and comments on books (and movies etc) as much as reasonably possible beforehand.

That makes sense. I always do it in post and its to find notes not reviews. Generally if someone writes notes they viewed the book favorably so there is some bias. But i usually viewed it that way too if im searching

Re: Writing summaries is more important than reading more books

#167

Post by mecha_ghidorah »

jameshart wrote: post #48
somsak2 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, knowledge decays over time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgetting_curve

That is indeed what advocates of spaced repetition say. Personally I find that knowledge that’s internalized and used does not decay. And devoting effort to refreshing the DRAM for knowledge I’m not using seems like it fails the YAGNI test. Let my brain’s cache eviction algorithm do its thing. If I learned something once I figure I can probably learn it again.

> and used

Surely using it is a repetition of it, essentially?

I always figured spaced repetition was a tool or help with knowledge you didn't have opportunity to apply otherwise

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